Star Wars: The Card Game, Core Set

A Living Card Game

Star Wars: The Card Game is a two-player card game that puts one player in command of the Rebels (light side, with the factions Jedi, Rebel Alliance, and Smugglers And Spies), and one player in command of the Empire (dark side, with the factions Sith, Imperial Navy, and Scum And Villainy). The Balance of the Force expansion will allow up to three light side players to battle the dark side player. The game is set within the time-frame of the original Star Wars trilogy.

Each player has a deck of objective cards representing various missions plus a deck of player cards of units (characters, vehicles, droids and creatures), events, enhancements and fates. Each objective is linked to a set of five player cards. Deck construction consists of choosing which objectives are to go into your objective deck, then adding each of those objective's set of five player cards to your player deck. Game play consists of deploying cards to your tableau, attacking your opponent's objectives, defending your own objectives, and committing cards to the Force Struggle.

The Empire wins if the Death Star dial reaches 12, with this dial increasing by one on each dark side turn, effectively putting a timer on the game. It may also be increased by winning the Force struggle, destroying light side objectives, and via card effects. The Rebels win by destroying three dark side objectives before the Empire wins.

This game is really easy to pick and learn and has tons of replay-ability for two players.The theme is good and comes through really strong in the mechanics of the game. The superb art reinforces the theme as well.Game play is fast and not too hard to understand. Fantasy Flight Games also has teaching videos on their website so you don't even have to read the rulebook! Game play is very asymmetric with the Dark Side trying to drag the game out longer to exhaust the Rebels' time clock, while the Rebels have to strike fast to have any hope of winning.This is a Living Card Game, so new sets of cards will be released in expansion packs every month or so for another couple years giving you more cards, themes and deck-building opportunities if you want it. Within the core set you can make good Sith, Imperial Navy, Jedi, and Rebel decks to play against each other. There are a couple other factions represented that will be further developed in expansions as well. There's enough here to be enjoyable for a long time, but if you like it a lot and want more, there's a lot more coming for this living card game!If you like Star Wars and have opportunities to play two-player games, this will be perfect for you. I've been playing more of the Lord of the Rings living card game from Fantasy Flight Games, and I think I prefer it a little more, mostly due to the theme and the fact that its cooperative. You might want to check it out too!

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